The Caterham administrator has launched a crowdfunding project in an attempt to raise the funds to go racing in Abu Dhabi – and thus save the team for next season.

The hope is to raise £2.35m by November 14, with pledges from £10 and up. While it’s good to see that in contrast to Marussia the team is in theory still alive, the target would seem to be a trifle ambitious, to say the least.

“We are working non-stop to get the Caterham F1 Team back racing, initially in Abu Dhabi,” said administrator Finbarr O’Connell. “Hopefully that will be just a stepping stone to get it back racing on a permanent basis, under new ownership. In order to achieve that one of our most useful, innovative and effective options right now is crowdfunding.

“We want to get as many sponsors and fans as possible involved this week and make our comeback something we can all be part of. This team deserves a future and I’m sure that there are plenty of fans and companies out there that agree with us, so I can’t think of a better way to get us all together and show our support to the team than this one, the Caterham F1 Team #RefuelCaterhamF1 project.

“In order to make this happen, we’ve teamed-up with Crowdcube, the world’s leading crowdfunding platform, which has raised £45m for more than 150 organisations since 2011. If we don’t hit the target by next Friday, obviously the pledged funds will be returned, but right now we are hopeful for the future of the team and we are confident that the team showing the world that it can race again will lead to a bright future under a new owner on a proper financial footing.”